CP+ 2019: Zeiss ZX1 - hands-on with the full-frame Android camera

Hands-on with the Zeiss ZX1

We've seen Android-based cameras before, we've seen primarily touchscreen-based cameras before and we've seen full frame compacts with built-in 35mm lenses, but we've never seen anything that combines them, which is essentially what Zeiss's ZX1 does.

Zeiss's first entry into the digital camera market has echoes of the touchscreen-based Leica TL, it also can't help but conjure-up thoughts of Sony's RX1 cameras, which are also built around 35mm F2 lenses on full frame chips. What it doesn't feel like, though, are Samsung's erstwhile Android-based Galaxy cameras or Nikon's Coolpix S800c, which felt like smartphones with a lens glued onto the front.

We got the chance to handle and explore a pre-production ZX1 at CP+ in Yokohama. Zeiss isn't yet giving a release date for the ZX1 so it's difficult to know how close to finished it is, but the camera seemed stable and to have most features in place, so we can at least describe how it's going to work.

I will be very curious about initial boot time, and then from sleep to wake time. The X1D and L16 both use Android if I am not mistaken, and the biggest issues I have with both (had the L16, returned, still have X1D) is the bootup time. Sleep didn't work well (too much battery drain). And price? I wonder. Under $4k?

I think the battery is going to be a big determining factor for this. With current mirrorless cameras changing the battery and getting back to shooting only takes a few seconds. The ZX1 will presumably require a full shutdown and reboot time unless Zeiss has recognized this and done something creative like having an internal battery that can keep the camera going in sleep mode while the main battery is swapped. Stripping down the Android implementation will probably also help with the shutdown and reboot times.

That is one big ugly looking camera. IMHO. ;-) Some have been posting it as being 'sexy'! I would not like to see your significant others if that is in any an indication of what you find 'sexy'. Lol.

With such large body, could they not have fitted a larger battery! Because I mean, 250 shots! Recent cameras seem to be getting worse for battery performance, when you would think things would be improving. How many charges to fill that SSD with still images? ;-) Lol

I applaud them for trying something different with Android and the internal SSD. But, those cameras with one card slot are reliant on the cards working, though generally it is the card itself that fails, rather than the socket, and you can just change it and carry on, if this SSD fails, because it is also the OS, you have a brick with lens. :-/

Oh, and someone seems to have picked the most sickly shade of yellow for the dial numbers too.

How very Bauhaus. You’ll need an uncomfortable German chair to sit in while figuring out the menus and reviewing your images. I expect a LOT of negative comments about the fact that this camera has ZERO card slots!!!

I've been interested in the camera since its first announced, but it is going to be hard to swallow what is likely to be the high price in light of issues like the low battery life and overly aggressive minimalism. An exposure compensation dial and separate AFL button or second programmable button would hardly have made the camera too complex; their absence will probably prove to be annoying to those who don't want to use the touchscreen with the camera to their eye (i.e., pretty much everybody).

I hope I'm wrong, but this seems to have all of the downsides of having Android built in, battery drain, slow startup, larger overall size and very few of the benefits. If the ZX1 had the Pixel's computational photography tricks it could be a game changer; without them it just seems like a spork. Everyone who buys this camera will still have a smartphone in their pocket. It seems like an RX1R II or a Leica Q with really good phone integration could essentially have feature parity without the need to cram smartphone hardware into the camera body.

This is NOT "a more complex operating system" than, for example, Sonys. Sony cameras have been running full-up Linux for many years now. In fact, the PlayMemories camera app interface (which Sony sadly no longer supports in the A9 and later models) was actually an Android environment running under Linux!

Anyway, the higher power consumption could be due to lots of things, from wireless radios to faster processors.

A lot of the value of having Android wasn't covered in this article. The ZX1 will include running LR Mobile in order to edit on the camera for those that want too. This may also mean that it can automatically sync with Creative Cloud so that you can continue the edits on your tablet, laptop or desktop. Having Android will also improve on sharing since you will be able to post directly to social media or email the photos. Chat will presumably be an option as well.

The potential will depend on how much Zeiss embraces the Android ecosystem. Not everyone is going to want to use LR or the provided sharing apps. It would be a boon to existing Android users if this was able to use your contacts which I assume are stored in a cloud (I've not used Android). That way you could start sharing immediately without having to reenter anyone's contact info.

Being based on Android also seems like it would mean that the ZX1 is ideally suited to incorporate computational photography in the future.

@ergoIts an open-source operating system. Where does an operating system trump embedded systems? When you want to build upon it. It quarantines the machine code from external tampering and lets you write with different languages. You would have a much easier time setting up an external infrastructure that could talk to it (like Lightroom). Potentially you could use a phone's internet connection to post from the camera to a website or social media application without ever messing with file transfer

@nonuniform @Matt Random'few new features' that I don't care about (nor should any of the professional photographers that this camera is aid at.) To have LR mobile on a camera means nothing if you can't edit your photo's on a large screen that can be calibrated. Maybe there will be a third party app that will enable the screen to be calibrated, but it still will be some sort of software - read unusable - calibration - in any case, if you are a little bit concerned about the quality of your edits, you will come home and redo the whole edit again.

@3pgrey could you rewrite your post so I may be able to know what you're talking about?

Anyway, as I said, I probably (surely) lack the imagination, but as it stands, to have Android on a camera is having a solution looking for a problem...

@ergo In a nutshell, at the cost of efficiency you gain flexibility with what you can do with the camera at a software level. It shows potential to be more than it's parts because it's easier to work with as a software engineer

@nonuniform I said from the start that I probably lacked some imagination, but judging from the answers (where literally no-one was able to point out any advantage of the use of Android) others do as well...

@ergoI think most people hope that it'll improve workflow, help maintain that flow of inspiration when it comes. If it changes the way you shoot so that you find everything from start to finish enjoyable it'll be worth every penny. But that's ambitious

@ergo67 It's an operating system. Many modern camera systems have one. The marketing fluff likes to talk about it, and maybe people will care about the features allowed by an OS with built-in connectivity, but for now, it's an operating system. Whether that's important to you or not, is entirely up to *you*.

I would wait for the Q2 to come along as we don't know what that will be exactly yet, as I know the Q build quality and handling is so nice. So thats my benchmark for the Zeiss to be interesting, that and a less wide than 28 mm lens! I'm not overstruck on the body design, a lot of real estate but no much physical button. Like to have a play though perhaps its brilliant.

I would never buy a Leica, first because of the absurdly high price and secondly for the lack of the grip. This is not a necklace, you actually have to hold the freaking thing in your hand. It's like apple putting all the icons on the top of a giant screen for "elegance". That is stupid. My opinion anyway.

I can see you "would never buy a Leica, first because of the absurdly high price". It is expensive b/c they are most beautiful and elegant cameras as I said. BTW, Leica is still alive b/c people buy them. Supply an demand.

If you know Leica, Leica make different add-on grips for Leica M for different peoples to avoid users to complain a build in grip too small, too big, too high, too low, too close to the lens, too far away from the lens as we can see people complain this Zeiss ZX1, or all other camera with lens.

FWIW, the cheapest Leica is the one having grip designed by Audi.

BTW, in terms of different Leica Add-on grip, Leica also has "Finger Loop for a add-on Handgrip M":

There is the biggest problem. If I ever spend 8k on a camera, I don't want to add a cheap ugly grip that does not match the look of the camera to fix their problem. If you have to add something to make it better to hold a camera, there is something wrong with the design. Leica is not the only dumb company on this camera world. I have a fuji X-T20 and I had to glue a grip to it. Did the same with panasonic few years ago. It is stupid. Things can still be elegant with a grip. I'm talking 1/2 inch to 1 inch thickness to make it better to carry those huge lenses that you have to put in front of it. If it comes with a small lens fixed, I can understand. For the ILC, it's just stupid.

Will I get some random push notification when the decisive moment comes telling me that the decisive moment is coming and I can tap it to open a third-party app which shows an interstitial ad immediately so that I miss the decisive moment?

Let's look at this from a camera OS perspective: we have a camera with a powerful, open, operating system. Finally. Quick. What OS does your (whatever) camera have. Right. It's proprietary. Except for a few, rare, camera hacks, they're closed systems. This is Android. Potentially/eventually you, or a third party, might be able to add or alter features. More? Linux file system. That's a lot more robust than the ancient FAT system we've been stuck with.

Nope, because it is Android, it have to boot to the OS that takes much time, and that alone will cost you any golden moment. It won't compare well with ANY modern DSLR / MILC that have startup times of just a fraction of second. Even if you use sleep mode, we don't know yet how many seconds it will take from sleep to ready to shoot. Even then that's not a good solution for slow startup times. Coupled this with high energy consumption and the problem is just multiplied. So, even if Android is a versatile OS it's not a good pair for pro / enthusiast camera. This camera is good if you're taking portrait leisurely (like in this camera ad) and don't mind about the waiting time.

The ones who don't agree with your opinion are the guys who felt a bit disappointed when the first iphone (2007) changed the history by implementing a touch screen instead of plastic buttons in communication devices.

Perhaps a touch too large, but looks like an impressive camera to me. Some really nice ideas, internal storage, plugin external hard drive, Lightroom software built in. If it could be charged from an external battery pack/used tethered to battery pack, then the 250 shots/charge is not an issue. Would love to try one. I think the styling looks fantastic, tastefully futuristic rather than retro.

Larger than I expected. And from what we're seeing here, it seems rather impaired. 250 shots? Menu diving for most of it's functions? Don't get it. One can think of ways to implement touch screen controls that are less touch intensive.

..thin air. But assume it will be more than a Leica Q2 which I am assuming will be $6,000+. There is a bunch of new technology in this camera never seen before, so is it that much of a stretch? $8,000 USD maybe?

Not this camera, not at this kind of price, but having a real touchscreen, with powerful apps, internal storage... It will come to mainstream, it's just that camera makers haven't a clue of technology, it's impressive. I have a Sony A7-3, it's a wonderful camera, but why is the screen so bad ? Any 200€ phone comes with a better screen, better responsiveness, and access to thousands of editing apps, plus the connectivity given by 4G, that no "true" camera propose, yet. But it will come.

Let's combine the worst aspects of standalone cameras and smartphones. What a marvelous idea!

I know, people are hungry for FF even where it doesn't make sense (i.e. in a non-ILC) and some, for some reason, want smartphone OS-based cameras.

For everyone else, this:- is humongous- gonna be crazy expensive- will be outdated in a very short while due to Android deprecation

And, excuse me, but how the hell does a 3190 mAh battery lose 10% each day in a non-phone device in standby mode? It should hold for like, a month. Never mind that a camera losing so much charge when not in use is pretty ridiculous... I wonder how long it takes to boot up.

On the other hand, considering how regular camera manufacturers keep providing only barebone smartphone apps, I can see how this has an appeal to people who want to use their FF cameras to post directly to Instagram.

Unlike the other comments here, I am curious about this! I would like to try one at a store as soon as it's available.

35mm is my favorite focal length. I expect Zeiss or someone else to make wide-angle and telephoto attachments at some point. I expect the sensor to be Sony made, given the lens partnership between the two companies, which will be a good thing for IQ. It has minimal key controls like I've had on my first RF camera 30 years ago. Good size for hand grip and can go into a small bag or coat pockets (I don't expect to carry a camera in my pants pockets; I don't even do that with my phone). SSD and USB Type-C. So far a mix of old design and new technology...

That's where the hype ends. We now have to see its actual performance and nuances in real-life use. Looking forward to those reviews.

Damn, tech is filtering out! I used something like that in Afghanistan in 2009 while on DoD. Photos went directly to the cloud between other amazing things. This Zeiss camera will be a great tool for journalists. Ponder on this: going to cover a news event, and while you take photos of the event your guys at the office are downloading them from the cloud to post them online into BBC, CNN, Aljazeera.... Powerful.

"They say they think a lot of people will manually set exposure, leaving ISO effectively playing the role of exposure compensation" - so how do I lower exposure when I am already at 100iso (if that is the base iso)?

I'm more perplexed by DPR (Butler) calling the ISO wheel "exposure compensation". It's more like compensation via gain manipulation--and as you note: what happens at the lowest gain setting?

EV settings (in the film era) were about leaving a camera on full auto (program in digital terms) with a predetermined f/stop but overriding the auto shutter speed setting.

For example, the EV dial on my Olympus OM4 never made much sense, since there's no full auto on that camera. I guess you could get a result between say 500th of a second and 1000th of a second since a computer runs the shutter.

Some people are never satisfied. I do think its odd that there is no exposure comp' dial, probably the most useful adjustment to have at hand. The shutter speed priority is of much less value in a camera that is never going to be used for sports or wildlife photography.

The one thing I do like is the fact that you can plug in an external hard drive and transfer directly to that. Is love that feature on every camera since it would mean I wouldn't need to bring a laptop with me if I go away for the weekend. Just bring an external drive and transfer directly to that. I know you can get a couple drives that have that feature built in but it sure would be nice if camera manufacturers just built something like that right into their cameras.

I see being able to transfer directly to an external drive as being an advantage. However, battery performance again comes to mind. The transfer will require using the USB-C port which means that you can't externally power the camera at the same time. Except maybe if you use a hub? The drive will be presumably powered by the camera as well. This can be somewhat mitigated by using an SSD instead of a HDD. And then there is the question of how much time it takes to transfer the photos. Hi speed interfaces mean more power so any time savings of a faster transfer is generally offset by the higher power consumption.

I'm not trying to poo poo the feature. I'm just pondering that you would need to check the battery level before doing this transfer and perhaps taking some time to top the battery off again after the transfer before you head out for more shooting.

I have an Android phone with OTG support, i can put an usb stick or a sd card with an adapter and copy file from/to phone. But there is a huge caveat, the file creation time is set to the timestamp of the copy, not the original file time. It's an old bug of android.

Puppy2007,Yes of course it's possible with many cameras to transfer via wifi , as well as just taking out the SD/CF card and use a card reader connected to the PC or NAS. But how about when you are in the field and/or don't have a tablet or laptop etc with you. That's the point.Yes, as I said, there are a few devices available eg the WD MyPassport ( £200 ish) but I am surprised there are so few options.

Yes indeed Lion.I really wonder what the reason might be to need that size. Styling, trends, stuffed with strange tech or just a wannabe medium format sized and probably priced body - but with a sensor and lens like the tiny RX1.

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